Wheeler happy to pitch in wherever he's needed

Union forward Aaron Wheeler goes up for a header over Dynamo midfielder Boniek Garcia during a game last season in Houston. A natural striker, Wheeler has found a way to help the Union on defense. (AP Photo /Houston Chronicle, Smiley N. Pool)

CHESTER — The confident professional side of Aaron Wheeler doesn’t lend itself to expressing surprise.

But some part of the 25-year-old admitted to a little shock when the converted striker made his first MLS start as a central defender last week in Columbus.

Nowhere in his prolific travels of the soccer world — from Vancouver to Tampa Bay, on bus trips into the Finnish slice of the Arctic Circle — did Wheeler ever rule out being in a position like the one he’s in now. But rarely did he consider it likely.

“It’s out there,” Wheeler said Tuesday at PPL Park. “I wouldn’t say that it’s a way that I would see my career go, but I’m extremely ecstatic for where I’m at. I just say that I’m a soccer player. I just think that I can go out there and do a job and do a good job wherever they give me an opportunity.”

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Wheeler’s opportunistic outlook hasn’t changed in his second season with the Union. Just like last year, he’s quick to deflect questions about his preference between his natural forward position and the defensive role the Union have transitioned him into. The emphasis for Wheeler has always been playing time, by any means.

So when a defensive shortage last year presented an opportunity for Wheeler to get reps in practice, he jumped at the opening. A natural fit given his aerial aptitude at 6-4, his jump to defense never got past the training pitch, though. All 10 of his MLS appearances, including one start, came as a forward, the position he occupied through his entire soccer career, save one year at Lenoir-Rhyne University, through three stops with North American lower-division sides before a season with KooTeePee in the Finnish second division in 2012.

This season, with a sturdier foundation of defensive skills, Wheeler returned to the fold projecting to make the Union’s roster as a forward. But circumstances again pushed him toward defense.

Between the trade of Jeff Parke to D.C. United to pave the way for Maurice Edu’s acquisition, preseason injuries to Sheanon Williams, newly-acquired Austin Berry and SuperDraft pick Richie Marquez, the path to minutes opened wide among the Union defense corps.

Into that void stepped a willing and able Wheeler.

“Me and (coach John Hackworth) just had an honest conversation about my size,” Wheeler said. “This preseason, I was physically dominant in the air and just looking for a way to get me onto the field. Once we had an honest conversation about the way he saw my career going, I was open to it.”

Wheeler’s tutelage this season has been a team effort, but one of the most prominent voices steering it is assistant coach Jim Curtin, a veteran of nearly 200 MLS games in central defense.

The biggest adjustment for Wheeler, according to Curtin, hasn’t been physical. Wheeler’s technical ability and composed first touch, uncharacteristic for a player his size, meant he had the physical tools. Instead, Curtin has helped Wheeler flip a mental switch in his mental outlook.

“The one thing that I joked with him is that you can have a terrible game as a forward and score a goal and be the hero, whereas you can have a great 90 minutes as a center back and fall asleep for 30 seconds and you’re the goat,” Curtin said. “It’s not as rewarding of a position. You have to have a short-term memory; you have to forget things quickly and get on with the game.”

The way in which Wheeler approaches his new position is also fundamentally different.

“I think as far as a forward or an attacking player, you’re more reactionary,” he said. “You react to what’s going on around you, as opposed to a defensive player where it’s all mental. You have to watch so many different runs and so many things developing beforehand. If you react as a defender, chances are the guy is by you and it’s an opportunity on goal, whereas if you’re a forward, you just react so it’s just kind of natural instinct.”

The good news for the Union is that the club has only tapped into part of what Wheeler is capable of. He’s played in all three games this season, including as a replacement for a hobbled Berry in the home opener against New England two weeks ago before a strong showing in the 2-1 loss to Columbus last week.

The first feat, jumping into the fray cold in the 54th minute and repelling New England for the remainder of the game, is one of the many little things he’s achieved that has impressed Curtin.

“People don’t understand: Coming off the bench as a center back is a very difficult thing, because the game is going 100 miles an hour,” Curtin said. “As an attacking player, you have a little bit of time to get used to things. As a defender, you don’t. You’re under the gun right away. He’s adapted and adjusted well.”

Wheeler, however, has yet to show what he can do offensively, where his ability to attack set pieces figures to be valuable. That aspect of his game, Wheeler admits, is instinctual, not to be dampened by defensive reps.

With Berry back in training but Hackworth avowing not to use either he or Williams unless he’s sure they are at 100 percent, Wheeler could be in line for another run out at center back Saturday against Montreal. If he makes the starting XI, he’s likely to face his stiffest test yet: veteran Italian striker Marco Di Vaio, who blistered MLS for 20 goals in his debut season last year.

Wheeler’s approach to the specter of handling Di Vaio sounds like that of a veteran defender.

“Just keeping your head on a swivel,” Wheeler said. “Just from what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard from a few of the guys, it’s always peeking over your shoulder. He can be offside 15 times in a game, but the 16th time, it only takes one for a world-class guy like that, so you just have to make sure you don’t give him that kind of opportunity.”